MSU Extension, 4-H could be next budget victims

October 23, 2009|By Brandon Hubbard

While Governor Jennifer Granholm scrambles to balance the Michigan budget, it seems no program is safe.

After making drastic cuts in the state education budgets, the Michigan State University Extension service that sponsors programs such as 4-H and biodiesel research could be canceled completely from the higher education bill in the state budget.

"We've not gotten our money," said Tom Coon, the director of MSU Extension. "From the state officials we have spoken with, we interpret this as a possible line-item veto (by the governor)."

The panic for MSU Extension came at the beginning of the month, said Coon on Thursday. When the funding came into the university this month, the money for the university's agricultural station and MSU Extension was not included.

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MSU Extension has been working for the past 150 years to help promote programs including agricultural education, farming and community development in Michigan.

MSU would be the only university in the state that has been singled out for such a cut.

"I'm not sure that the people of Michigan would want to single out MSU like that," Coon said.

State Rep. Gary McDowell, D-Rudyard, said he was made aware of the MSU Extension situation when the administrators came to his office this week.

"It is the governor's job to balance the budget with what we have," he said. "The governor is constitutionally bound to meet the budget with the available funds."

While McDowell understands the necessity of a balanced budget, he is not necessarily supportive of the decision.

"It would really be a tragedy, it is very, very important to the state. Especially, when we are looking at biomass research," he said.

Locally, Ann Chastain, director of Emmet County MSU Extension, said agriculture is the one bright spot in the Michigan, raising $71.3 billion annually.

But, she said, if the governor vetoed or cut the state funding for MSU Extension, programs such as 4-H and the offices in 82 counties statewide would close their doors the next day.

"We are already operating on funds that we don't have, so there isn't anything to keep us going," she said.

Chastain said losing the program would likely result in a loss of revenue for the state.

Chastain added in 2008, agricultural experiments brought $1.06 billion to the state, which is double every dollar put into the program.

Rep. McDowell agreed, citing that the biodiesel technology and other agricultural industries in the state seem to one of the state's few bright spots in the current economy.